Power consumption in a data storage system is typically determined by the amount of power consumed statically by components in the storage system when the storage system is idle and the amount of power consumed dynamically to service input/output (I/O) requests received by the storage system. Servicing an I/O request refers to performing an I/O operation identified in the I/O request.
The amount of power consumed to service I/O requests depends, in part, on seek time. Seek time refers to the time required to move a head component of a disk drive in the storage system for the purpose of reading or writing data. A shorter seek time, generally, implies less movement of the head component, which results in less power consumption.
Existing storage systems use a scheduling mechanism to manage performance of I/O requests. Unfortunately, however, the scheduling mechanism does not take into consideration power consumption in the storage system.